The Harry Potter Movies

[TheGongOfDoom]

Currently watching Deathly Hallows Part II and it is so good. It has everything, romance, love, hate, evil, drama, tragedy, humor, remorse, but most of all it has quiet moments, sometimes just a few seconds that manage to convey an entire lifetime. More later.

[whyjen8]

ABC Family is doing Harry Potter Tuesdays, so I'm watching with my youngest.  I will never hate anyone as much as I hate Doloras Umbridge!  I just needed to get that off my chest.

 Currently watching Deathly Hallows Part II and it is so good. It has everything, romance, love, hate, evil, drama, tragedy, humor, remorse, but most of all it has quiet moments, sometimes just a few seconds that manage to convey an entire lifetime. More later.

Please read the book.  For any fans of the movies, the entire series is great but please, please, please read Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows.  For the most part the movies did the books justice but the last 2 were so long a lot had to be cut.

[Rick Kitchen]

whyjen8, check out these scenes from the University of Michigan's "A Very Potter Sequel", their second take on the Potter books.  These are clips of the Umbridge moments.  Note that Darren Criss, from "Glee", plays Harry Potter.

 

 

And this is Umbridge's best song from the play:

 

Edited April 23, 2014 by Rick Kitchen

[mstaken]

I've been rewatching the movies and loving them more the second time around. 

 

What do people think were the best and worst HP movies? Does it correspond to your opinions about the best and worst HP books? 

[Athena]

I really enjoyed the third movie but I've always been a fan of Cuaron's style. Book three was my favourite book for a long time too and he set the mood perfectly.

 

I enjoyed DH parts one and two. The others are bit more forgettable for me though. The movies are fun and I'm really glad some of the kids have careers now, but not eager to rewatch them anytime soon.

[Spartan Girl]

The Forbidden Forest scene in DH 2 always destroys me.  I loved the moment when Harry runs to Lily only to have their hands pass through each other was beautiful, not to mention a nice parallel to the Mirror of Erised scene in SS when she touches his shoulder...or does.  *sob*

 

I really think Daniel Radcliffe nailed the moment when he pulls out of the Pensieve and absorbs the fact that he is a Horcrux and therefore has to die.  The look on his face was a perfect mixture of shock, horror, fear, anger, nausea fading slowly into resignation.

 

And I know that people have criticized the movies making Ginny blander, but Bonnie Wright sold that scream.

[stealinghome]

My favorite movie is Prisoner of Azkaban, in part because it's tied for my favorite book (with Half-Blood Prince, on which more below), and in part because I think Alfonso Cuaron brought an artistic vision to it that the other movies just completely lack. Whimsy, too--Cuaron's world felt the most magical, in some respects, the most weird but also hopeful, in a way that really jived with the impression of the HP world I've always gotten from the books. But I also really enjoy Deathly Hallows 1 and 2 as well. Those movies balanced humor and love and warmth with danger and the life-or-death stakes the trio was facing perfectly.

 

I'm not quite sure that I'd call it my least favorite, but I found the most disappointing movie to be Half-Blood Prince, largely because the movie just ignored everything that made the book so interesting and dwelled for forever on the most boring parts of the book. Also Dan Radcliffe seemed like he was sleepwalking through large parts of that movie, which didn't help. Though I do always get chills in the Dumbledore death scene.

 

Conversely, I actually think that I like Order of the Phoenix a little bit better in movie form. The book is just pages and pages of Harry having anger management issues...that's the book, imo, in which Rowling most needed a way more stringent editor. So I appreciated that a good portion of the utter filler of that book was cut out. Chamber of Secrets, too, was a little stronger as a movie than it was as a book, I think.

[mstaken]

Stealing Home, are you me?! I was just talking with someone about how I thought Chamber of Secrets and Order of the Phoenix were the two movies that were better than the books on which they were based. Azkaban, both the book and the movie, are probably my all-time favorites. I agree that Half-Blood Prince was a better book than movie. I have a weird love-hate relationship with Deathly Hollows in general, but I do think the movie did a nice job capturing the key parts of the book without being dully and salvishly faithful to it. 

[Athena]

I have an issue with the Steve Kloves scripts. I think the movies are fun because of the direction, the acting and the basic connection to the books, but I didn't really like most of the written changes e.g. the emphasis on Harry/Hermione, the blandification of Ginny, Ron being sidelined and so on.

 

My favourite books were three and six as well which is why the HBP is boring. OOTP was pretty faithful to the book action wise.

[mstaken]

but I didn't really like most of the written changes e.g. the emphasis on Harry/Hermione,

 

But...but...there's no such thing as too much emphasis on Hermione and Harry! ;) 

 

he blandification of Ginny,

 

 I hold the fairly unpopular opinion of thinking Ginny was just as bland in the books as she was in the films. I agree that it's more the fault of the writing than the acting, though the actress didn't make much of an impression on me one way or the other. (I absolutely love Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Gint as Ron, and especially Emma Watson as Hermione, but those characters all had a heck of a lot more to work with.) I think JK Rowling once said something to the effect of deliberately making Ginny as 'normal' as possible to balance out the insanity in other facets of Harry's life...or maybe that's just had canon that I've mistakenly attributed to the author :) I do think it's interesting that JK Rowling recently said she wish she'd put Hermione together with Harry rather than with Ron, as some people I know do see  more romantic chemistry between Harry and Hermione in the movies than they expected to. And that means that now I can pretend Luna ended up with Ron...have I mentioned I have odd taste?!

 

A random note on Chamber of Secrets, which I just rewatched the other night: I think Kenneth Branagh (sp?) was a truly inspired choice to play Gilderoy Lockhart. I grin my way through every one of his scenes. 

[Athena]

I'm not a Ron/Hermone shipper in the sense that they are the OTP for me, but I think JKR clarified Hermione and Harry are a better fit "in some ways" and that R/Hr would get marriage counselling. I hated how those interviews set off the internet. The ship wars were the reason I left the HP fandom (one of my first) altogether.

 

To be honest, I didn't care for Harry's romantic pairing with anyone in the movies. It's not an UO to say that Ginny is bland because a lot of people dislike book Ginny for being bland. You're not imagining it, JKR did more or less say that she wanted Ginny and the Weasleys to be the family that Harry never had.

 

Back to the movies, I felt the script just gave Hermione too much attention. My UO is that I like Hermione a lot in the books (about equal to how much I like any really), less so in the movies.

[mstaken]

Interesting, Athena---I didn't take Rowling's comments about Harry/Hermione as quite so equivocating. I'm not going to argue it, though, because I don't care much about the 'ships either way. The *romantic* ships, that is---I am ridiculously obsessed with the group's friendships :)

[tinaw]

My least favorite HP Movie is Prisioner of askaban. Though it does have a great beginning. The bus ride is the best. Maybe because its the first darker movie is why I wasnt crazy about it.

My favorite movie is rhe Goblet of Fire. The normalcy of it I liked. Kids being kids. Dancing, crushes, adolescence. Loved it

[VCRTracking]

 

I'm not quite sure that I'd call it my least favorite, but I found the most disappointing movie to be Half-Blood Prince, largely because the movie just ignored everything that made the book so interesting and dwelled for forever on the most boring parts of the book. Also Dan Radcliffe seemed like he was sleepwalking through large parts of that movie, which didn't help. 

 

Except for the part where Harry drinks the Felix Felicis(liquid luck) which wasn't memorable to me in the book but was brought to life in a hilarious way by Dan basically acting like Harry was really high! It's still one of the funniest scenes in the series. 

 

It's funny that most of the magic in Half Blood Prince was brought to life through the acting instead of special effects: Harry on liquid luck, Ron under the love potion, Dumbledore drinking the horcrux potion, the "Unbreakable Vow". Even the pensieve scenes are basically flashbacks.

 

 

My favorite movie is rhe Goblet of Fire. The normalcy of it I liked. Kids being kids. Dancing, crushes, adolescence. Loved it

 

I think Mike Newell, being the first British director and who had actually gone a real English public school(St. Albans) brought a lot of his experiences to it. The scene where they're talking about who they're going to ask out to the Yule Ball. In the book they're in the common room or something but in the movie they're taking some kind of test in the Great Hall with Snape overseeing it. Ron and Harry get caught talking and Snape whacks them in the back of the head and it's one of the funniest scenes in the movie to me.  Only a British person would come up with that and make it funny! An American like Chris Columbus wouldn't think a teacher hitting a student would be a joke. Also when Harry goes to see Cedric to warn him about the dragons and he's in a quad lounging on a bench surrounded by fellow Hufflepuffs. Little details like that.

 

 

Back to the movies, I felt the script just gave Hermione too much attention. My UO is that I like Hermione a lot in the books (about equal to how much I like any really), less so in the movies.

 

I always thought if Hermione(Emma) wasn't the prettiest girl in most of the movies fans wouldn't have that sentiment(no offense Fleur fans, but it's TRUE). It makes it seem like she is getting so much attention because she's attractive. This joke from Modern Family tells you how Hermione is seen by the general public:

 

Edited July 17, 2014 by VCRTracking

[Athena]

Except for the part where Harry drinks the Felix Felicis(liquid luck) which wasn't memorable to me in the book but was brought to life in a hilarious way by Dan basically acting like Harry was really high! It's still one of the funniest scenes in the series. 

...

I always thought if Hermione(Emma) wasn't the prettiest girl in most of the movies fans wouldn't have that sentiment(no offense Fleur fans, but it's TRUE). It makes it seem like she is getting so much attention because she's attractive. This joke from Modern Family tells you how Hermione is seen by the general public:

 

I agree that Radcliffe nailed that scene. It's one of my favourite scenes in the book series too. HBP had some nice moments, each of the movies do.

 

As for Hermione, I'm mostly indifferent to Emma Watson. I haven't really seen her in anything else except HP and she was the weakest acting link out of the trio during the movies. The fact they featured her so much (since she was so attractive?) when she wasn't as much in books made me get over her quickly.

[stealinghome]

As for Hermione, I'm mostly indifferent to Emma Watson. I haven't really seen her in anything else except HP and she was the weakest acting link out of the trio during the movies. The fact they featured her so much (since she was so attractive?) when she wasn't as much in books made me get over her quickly.

Oh, see, I definitely thought Watson was the strongest of the trio. For my money (maybe this is an unpopular opinion?), the weakest was Radcliffe. He had like three facial expressions and couldn't sell any of Harry being super emotional. I still laugh--and not in a good way--when I think about him "crying" in PoA.

[KatWay]

I thought Emma started out the best, but she seemed to have a very one-note delivery by the end (using the same, breathy, wide eyed line readings for just about everything) while Radcliffe improved from worst to one of the best IMO.

 

I was mostly a bit annoyed that the way the movies pushed Hermione, they completely sidelined Ron, moreso than the books ever did. And I maintain that book!Hermione and book!Harry had zero chemistry (he even says that he prefers to hang out with Ron, though he also appreciates Hermione of course), it was more the Emma/Dan chemistry that pushed that (and I strongly suspect that's what led Rowling to make those comments, because there is really nothing much at all in the books between Harry and Hermione). I mean, ideally none of the highschool kids would have ended up together and I never got the appeal of blandly perfect, slightly uncomfortably Lily-esque Ginny, but hey. 

[Athena]

When they started, I found Rupert to be the best. It's really hard to judge child actors. I just felt Rupert was more naturally Ron and he had some timing. I also saw Rupert in another thing around the time of the earlier movies and he showed some range. Since his career hasn't taken off and Daniel's really shown his stuff, I'm not sure I can judge it anymore.

 

I thought Emma acted more or less the same after she hit puberty. I also know what you mean about the same exact way of reading lines. I think she showed improvement during DH, but I think Daniel had surpassed by then so I didn't care too much.

[JayKay]

I wish that I could find that gif of Emma Watson's "eyebrow acting" that was from POA. Once it was pointed out, I couldn't stop staring at her eyebrows every time she had a line. Those things had more personality than the rest of her face sometimes. That said, I think she got it under control in time for the final two films.

[VCRTracking]

I think the eyebrowing acting really started in Goblet of Fire. The train scene after the Quidditch Cup it's very noticable.

[stealinghome]

When they started, I found Rupert to be the best. It's really hard to judge child actors. I just felt Rupert was more naturally Ron and he had some timing. I also saw Rupert in another thing around the time of the earlier movies and he showed some range. Since his career hasn't taken off and Daniel's really shown his stuff, I'm not sure I can judge it anymore.

I find Grint to be hard to judge insofar as I think he's talented, but I also wonder how much of his Ron was him acting versus him just being himself, if you know what I mean. As far as his career goes, I've always gotten the sense that fairly or unfairly, he's going to be typecast as the Ron-ish character actor, so I'm not sure comparing his career to Radcliffe's is apples to apples--Radcliffe will always be landing the lead roles and be given opportunities just because he's Harry Potter.

 

And I maintain that book!Hermione and book!Harry had zero chemistry (he even says that he prefers to hang out with Ron, though he also appreciates Hermione of course), it was more the Emma/Dan chemistry that pushed that (and I strongly suspect that's what led Rowling to make those comments, because there is really nothing much at all in the books between Harry and Hermione).

I don't know, I think up through Prisoner of Azkaban (and probably Goblet of Fire), the books could have gone in either the Hermione/Ron or Hermione/Harry direction. I mean, it was pretty apparent from the first book on that Hermione/Ron was where JKR wanted to go, but through Goblet of Fire there was enough between Harry and Hermione that she could have changed direction on that and it wouldn't have seemed crazy or inorganic. Past Goblet of Fire though, yeah, JKR had gone too far down the Ron/Hermione path to really change course.

[KatWay]

Well, in the first three books they were kids and there was no romantic attraction from any side really. But I actually thought Goblet of Fire made it pretty clear that Harry/Hermione would never happen - when they hung out sans Ron Harry's inner POV was all about how he missed Ron, how Hermione was great but he just didn't have the same level of easy rapport with her and it felt a bit awkward sometimes. I also thought it seemed obvious in this book that Ron and Hermione had more of a spark (she was upset at his crush on Fleur, he was upset at her thing with Krum), so I figured they'd get together eventually.

Harry and Hermione in the books seemed less close to me than they were portrayed in the movies, where there seemed to be a real emphasis on scenes of them together and more touching etc. In the books I thougt Harry was definitely closer to Ron, although his friendship with Hermione was also strong. But I never saw any hint of attraction, tension or anything really that would have indicated a possibility for romance. 

[GaT]

I'm not a Ron/Hermone shipper in the sense that they are the OTP for me, but I think JKR clarified Hermione and Harry are a better fit "in some ways" and that R/Hr would get marriage counselling. I hated how those interviews set off the internet. The ship wars were the reason I left the HP fandom (one of my first) altogether.

 

To be honest, I didn't care for Harry's romantic pairing with anyone in the movies. It's not an UO to say that Ginny is bland because a lot of people dislike book Ginny for being bland. You're not imagining it, JKR did more or less say that she wanted Ginny and the Weasleys to be the family that Harry never had.

 

Back to the movies, I felt the script just gave Hermione too much attention. My UO is that I like Hermione a lot in the books (about equal to how much I like any really), less so in the movies.

I don't dislike Ginny, but I do find her bland both in book & movie. 

 

I agree that Radcliffe nailed that scene. It's one of my favourite scenes in the book series too. HBP had some nice moments, each of the movies do.

 

As for Hermione, I'm mostly indifferent to Emma Watson. I haven't really seen her in anything else except HP and she was the weakest acting link out of the trio during the movies. The fact they featured her so much (since she was so attractive?) when she wasn't as much in books made me get over her quickly.

I thought Hermione was more present plot-wise in the books but they cut a lot of her story out. The whole thing about the house elves lasted through multiple books, but wasn't even a mention in the movies.

[Athena]

Interesting, Athena---I didn't take Rowling's comments about Harry/Hermione as quite so equivocating. I'm not going to argue it, though, because I don't care much about the 'ships either way. The *romantic* ships, that is---I am ridiculously obsessed with the group's friendships :)

 

I think JKR has a way of making offhand remarks that become big headlines. That is how the Dumbledore thing started. With Harry/Hermione, she remarked about it off-handley in one interview, after that set the internet alight, she followed it up fairly quickly in another interview with the marriage counseling remark. I really like JKR, but the fans really take whatever she says and runs away with it.

 

I find Grint to be hard to judge insofar as I think he's talented, but I also wonder how much of his Ron was him acting versus him just being himself, if you know what I mean. As far as his career goes, I've always gotten the sense that fairly or unfairly, he's going to be typecast as the Ron-ish character actor, so I'm not sure comparing his career to Radcliffe's is apples to apples--Radcliffe will always be landing the lead roles and be given opportunities just because he's Harry Potter.

 

I think that is why he looked natural on screen. Maybe he is more like Ron, but I think Emma is a lot like Hermione too. Like I said, I think Rupert also has some timing. We can't judge between Daniel and Rupert because the latter does not have the chances of the former which is why I couldn't compare either.

 

Well, in the first three books they were kids and there was no romantic attraction from any side really. But I actually thought Goblet of Fire made it pretty clear that Harry/Hermione would never happen - when they hung out sans Ron Harry's inner POV was all about how he missed Ron, how Hermione was great but he just didn't have the same level of easy rapport with her and it felt a bit awkward sometimes. I also thought it seemed obvious in this book that Ron and Hermione had more of a spark (she was upset at his crush on Fleur, he was upset at her thing with Krum), so I figured they'd get together eventually.

Harry and Hermione in the books seemed less close to me than they were portrayed in the movies, where there seemed to be a real emphasis on scenes of them together and more touching etc. In the books I thougt Harry was definitely closer to Ron, although his friendship with Hermione was also strong. But I never saw any hint of attraction, tension or anything really that would have indicated a possibility for romance. 

 

This is more or less what I've thought about the canon relationship between Harry and Hermione. Yes, Hermione is important to Harry, but character wise, I couldn't see them compatible romantically in some ways. Not just personality wise. Hilariously, Harry had a thing for athletic girls. Not surprising given that Quidditch was probably one of the best things in Harry's life in the books. He didn't really have a hobby or any outlet until he started that sport. Fighting the Dark Lord doesn't count.

 

I don't dislike Ginny, but I do find her bland both in book & movie. 

 

I thought Hermione was more present plot-wise in the books but they cut a lot of her story out. The whole thing about the house elves lasted through multiple books, but wasn't even a mention in the movies.

 

I think Hermione is very much present in the books, but excessively so relative to Ron in the movies. I really like the friendship between Ron and Harry which were highlighted in the summers at the Burrow, but less emphasized in the movies. Yeah, the movies didn't really want to feature righteous Hermione, not enough time. Her eyebrows were too busy doing something else. In the books, the SPEW thing was annoying, but in-character due to her age. It was kinda charming by the end of it because Hermione would have a legal career in the end.

[VCRTracking]

The problem was they only have enough time to focus on the central mystery which Hermione is key in solving, but they didn't have time to go into the day-to-day school where Ron and his friendship are equally important to Harry. They usually do one scene in a classroom each movie and I understand more would be repetitive. I always thought that a TV show would be much better adaptation of the books so you could explore each school year fully.

Edited July 17, 2014 by VCRTracking

[scarynikki12]

 

Radcliffe will always be landing the lead roles and be given opportunities just because he's Harry Potter.

That and he embraced the theater.  This is where him being British is a tremendous asset.  If he were American, he'd likely be pressured by agents and managers to only do movies and any move to theater or tv would be seen as a failure.  But British actors routinely move from movies, to tv, to theater and back without any hits to their careers.  It's considered normal for their acting culture (and quite a few British movie stars even prefer the theater and would gladly give up movies if they had a choice).  Daniel's done a little tv but has also been able to take on challenging roles on stage and nailed them, which is probably the biggest reason he still has a career at this point and isn't showing up on some Where Are They Now special.

[benteen]

Radcliffe joked during an EW interview that at 5'5", Harry Potter was going to be the only action films he ever did.  He's developing a terrific career for himself on stage and is popping up in a bunch of movies so good for him.

[GreekGeek]

Re the Harry shipping--I thought he made a deeper connection with Luna Lovegood than with either Ginny or Hermione, since she is the only girl he talks to who knows what it's like to lose a parent. Evanna Lynch looked just the way I imagined Luna. The scene in Order of the Phoenix where they talk about their dead parents is beautiful.

 

I always found the adults much more compelling than the kids both in the books and movies. Snape, of course, was my favorite. My chief disappointment in the OotP movie was how short and unrevealing the "Snape's Worst Memory" flashback was. The "Snape as Half-Blood Prince" revelation barely registered in the movie. I was glad that Deathly Hallows II did justice to "The Prince's Tale," even if the attempt to make Alan Rickman look younger was ridiculous.

[benteen]

The scene between Snape and Harry at the end of the Half-Blood Prince was supposed to be emotionally charged but was a disappointment.  Rickman played it with no passion although I don't think the writing helped there.

[wingster55]

I think all three have fairly successful careers really..just to different degrees. Rupert is still doing movies and also jumped on stage.

 

I cannot stress how much I hated the sidelining of Ron during the movies. 

I always thought that a TV show would be much better adaptation of the books so you could explore each school year fully.

 

1000 times, yes! All the little things that made the series great could have been included..the friendship with Ron, or the growth of Neville for instance. 

thought he made a deeper connection with Luna Lovegood than with either Ginny or Hermione, since she is the only girl he talks to who knows what it's like to lose a parent.

 

Agree with this as well..but my thoughts may belong in the book forum.

Edited July 19, 2014 by wingster55

[stealinghome]

The scene between Snape and Harry at the end of the Half-Blood Prince was supposed to be emotionally charged but was a disappointment.  Rickman played it with no passion although I don't think the writing helped there.

Oh, pretty much everything to do with Dumbledore's death in the movie was terrible. It's one of the reasons I find that movie so disappointing. The blocking was awful, the script was awful, the acting wasn't great...the only good thing about the Dumbledore's death sequence in the movies was when the school gathers afterward and mourns for him. That scene does make me choke up. Oh, and I like how Bellatrix skips through the Great Hall kicking all the glassware. Helena Bonham Carter nailed Bellatrix's batshit craziness really well there. But past that, Dumbledore's death just falls so flat. In the books, it's this epic moment, and the movie is just so underwhelming in comparison.

[Rick Kitchen]

It will be interesting to see just how recognizable Daniel Radcliffe will be when he plays Igor in the upcoming Frankenstein with James McAvoy.  Will he have a hunchback?

[VCRTracking]

 

The scene between Snape and Harry at the end of the Half-Blood Prince was supposed to be emotionally charged but was a disappointment.  Rickman played it with no passion although I don't think the writing helped there.

Oh, pretty much everything to do with Dumbledore's death in the movie was terrible. It's one of the reasons I find that movie so disappointing. The blocking was awful, the script was awful, the acting wasn't great...the only good thing about the Dumbledore's death sequence in the movies was when the school gathers afterward and mourns for him. That scene does make me choke up. Oh, and I like how Bellatrix skips through the Great Hall kicking all the glassware. Helena Bonham Carter nailed Bellatrix's batshit craziness really well there. But past that, Dumbledore's death just falls so flat. In the books, it's this epic moment, and the movie is just so underwhelming in comparison.

 

The lines were pretty much how it was in the book. The problem was that when they first show Dumbledore's death in the book of Half Blood Prince, it's from Harry's POV. So when Snape looks really evil and that he is maliciously murdering him . Then in the pensieve scene in the Deathly Hallows book you get the perspective that it's all an act and that Dumbledore was alreadying from trying to destroy one of the Horcrux's and asked Snape to kill him. There Snape is hesitant and doesn't want to do it. The film version had to be ambiguous enough to work both ways.

[wingster55]

The book version was also ambiguous. Yes Harry saw him murder Dumbledore, and instantly hated Snape (or rather hated him more). But the audience knew that Dumbledore wouldn't beg etc. 

[benteen]

I was never happy with what Kloves did with Ron, marginalizing him, giving Super Hermione his dialogue, and turning him into the cowardly lion at times.  The absolute best movie for Ron was The Deathly Hallows Part I.  THAT was the Ron I remember from the books.

 

Don't get me started with Super Hermione.  Giving her all of Ron's lines and then not even including the storyline where she was getting burned out from using the Time Turner because apparently she was perfect.  Though I did appreciate that Movie Hermione didn't burst into tears like Book Hermione did every other page of The Deathly Hallows.

[wingster55]

Though I did appreciate that Movie Hermione didn't burst into tears like Book Hermione did every other page of The Deathly Hallows.

 

But, again..that had to do with Ron's absence. So her not crying in the movie was again a slight at Ron. 

[benteen]

She was crying even when Ron was in the party in The Deathly Hallows.  Non-stop waterworks.

[Eeksquire]

 

I always thought that a TV show would be much better adaptation of the books so you could explore each school year fully.

I was thinking that it would work as a mini-series (a la the 800 hour version of Pride & Prejudice).  If it were produced in the UK, it would even make sense - each book could be its own, stand-alone series.

 

 I like the movies a lot, but so much of the detail was cut out of them that a lot of the plots have holes - the biggest offender, in my mind, being the Half-Blood Prince.  They cut out a lot of information about the horcruxes in service of playing up the "puppy love" storylines.  I know they add a little bit of levity to the proceedings, but I could do without a lot of it, particularly when we lost the pensieve trips to the Gaunts' house, Borgin & Burkes AND the fussy old lady with her house-elf.  It's been awhile since I watched HBP (my least favorite of the movies), but those were IMO, critical to the plot in DH and they got shafted.  Without them, the trio really is wandering around the country in the dark, without any idea what they're looking for.

 

As far as the 'ships go, my dream teams would be Neville with Ginny and Ron with Luna.  I don't 'ship Harry and Hermione, so as far as I'm concerned, either could have met someone as an adult. (An apparently shocking idea, but not everyone gets married right out of high school or to people they knew in high school.)

[VCRTracking]

Half Blood Prince is an example where on the one hand there are things I love in the book that were absent in the movie(the pensieve scenes) but there are also things I didn't care for in the book(like the romances, liquid luck) that I actually enjoyed in the movie. The way Ron and Lavender break up in the movie is way more entertaining to me.

 

My favorite part of the HBP book is still the bit with Molly and Fleur crying and hugging over Bill after he gets injured.

[benteen]

I don't care how brilliant of a filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron is, I will never forgive him for cutting out The Marauders backstory.

 

I enjoyed the Half-Blood Prince movie more than the book.  I wasn't that bummed about some of Voldemort's backstory being cut out.  All you learned is that he evil from the very beginning.  No real surprises.  As a matter of fact, Tom Riddle was so one-dimensionally evil it's a surprise he wasn't discovered sooner.

 

I was annoyed how Snape's backstory was glossed over in that one though.

Edited July 20, 2014 by benteen

[VCRTracking]

Yeah, the guilt over he was the one who told Voldemort about the prophesy which led to Lily's death was important.

[Rick Kitchen]

A Very Potter Musical did Snape's back story with Lily and James in four minutes better than the movie did.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E5OgqIu8a0

[benteen]

Yeah, the guilt over he was the one who told Voldemort about the prophesy which led to Lily's death was important.

 

YES!  This was something that they cut out with drove me crazy.  By establishing that Voldemort just simply found out about the prophecy on his own, it took away a lot from his backstory.  Snape didn't want Lily to be killed but it was his fault because he was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy.  That was the whole point of his redemption.  It makes his redemption a lot less needed if he was just another Death Eater.  He was the Death Eater that got Lily killed, even though he didn't want that to happen.

[TheGreenKnight]

I have to be honest that the only HP film that I'd say is "good" would be Deathly Hallows Part One. I do enjoy the first two movies though, even though they're bloated and cheesy.

 

I have to admit I'm colored by having read (and loved) the books first, but my least favorite film of all these is definitely Order of the Phoenix, which is also my favorite of the books (along with PoA and DH). The film mutilates nearly everything good about the book. Imelda Staunton is the perfect actress for Umbridge, but it's just not the same character from the books; the movies make her out to be nothing more than an old-fashioned control freak (DH Part One does attempt to fix that in some ways, but they never really capture the character, imo, which is a huge disappointment). Not to mention ruining the fight scene at the Ministry and excising my favorite scene in the entire series--the final confrontation between Dumbledore and Harry. Maybe it's for the best though, because I think Michael Gambon is horrible as Dumbledore, unfortunately. My pick for second-worst would be Goblet of Fire. The film just sucks all the tension and (later on) terror out of the story, imo.

 

Overall, the films are a very mixed bag for me. I will say I think they had a near-perfect cast (Gambon as Dumbledore is the only serious flaw, imo), it's just a shame so many of them were wasted. And I can't help but wonder how the story even makes sense to viewers who never read the books; the films sometimes confuse me, and I've read the series multiple times now.

Edited July 23, 2014 by TheGreenKnight

[Rick Kitchen]

Clip from the upcoming Daniel Radcliffe film Horns:

 

[GreekGeek]

don't 'ship Harry and Hermione, so as far as I'm concerned, either could have met someone as an adult. (An apparently shocking idea, but not everyone gets married right out of high school or to people they knew in high school.)

 

My own theory about this is that, if you're a wizard or witch, you've already met all the other witches or wizards near your own age from your own country in school. So the magic folks make up their minds sooner than Muggles. The alternatives are marrying someone from another country, marrying someone much older or younger, marrying a Muggle, or staying single.

[stealinghome]

I think there's also something to be said for the notion that people get married younger in wartime, too. Didn't JKR once say that the members of James and Lily's generation paired off really young in part because of Voldemort's reign of terror? I could something similar going for Harry's generation, where all the mixed emotions of a just-finished war would lead the younger generation, particularly those who fought in the last battle, to couple up a little on the quicker side.

 

Plus, you have to figure that living through the war would be a unique kind of bonding experience, a shared life experience that very few other people would understand but that you probably really need your romantic partner to get. I've never particularly been a fan of Hermione/Ron, but that's one way in which it actually very much makes sense to me that they would work. They both had such extreme experiences growing up--and Harry did too, but Harry's was a very different experience from theirs, because he was "the hero" and they were "the sidekicks"--that I can see where it would be very difficult for Ron to get with someone who wasn't Hermione and vice versa, because who else could even begin to understand what your formative years were like?

[turbogirlnyc]

I watched Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 on ABC Family this weekend for the umpteenth time (seriously ashamed at the # of times I've seen the HP movies), and found myself crying/sobbing during the Prince's Tale scene again. It gets me every single time.

I adore Alan Rickman & think his role was seriously diminished in the films. What a waste of superb acting skills. I love AR's interpretation of Snape & the awkwardness he was able to convey in the smallest of ways. I also lol at his facial expressions in certain scenes.

For example, when Lavendar is in anquish over Ron's "betrayal" while recovering in the hospital bed. Snape's look of sheer befuddlement & slight disdain is priceless.

Anyway... I thank anyone who bothered reading my ramblings.

[Eeksquire]

I watched some of the movies over the weekend as well, and I continue to be irked that they cut some of the memories from the Pensieve - in particular, the bit about the Hufflepuff cup and how Voldemort got ahold of it to begin with.  I could have done with a lot less of the "Won-Won" nonsense in favor of a little more substance for the storyline.  

 

Although... Dumbledore's reaction to Ron dumping Lavender in the hospital is really priceless: "Oh to be young and to feel love's keen sting."  Makes me laugh every.time.

[satrunrose]

I guess I have the unpopular opinion that I like book Ginny.  I thought she was a bit of a bad ass, but I guess now that I think about it, most of the bits about her raising Hell in the DA, especially during the Deathly Hallows are just references to stuff that we aren't shown in the books. Now movie Ginny is a whole other story. Despite being a mega book purist (my friends find my long-winded rants very entertaining), I almost would rather have Movie Harry end up with Movie Hermione.

 

I would so love to see a Harry Potter book or movie about what was going on at Hogwarts during the DH year and I think Luna, Ginny and Nevill have enough fans to make it sell. I mean seriously, if a Hogwarts text book about monsters can inspire a whole series of movies, why can't we see this?

 

My favourite movies are probably CS (love K. B.), POA and GF. After that, they kept cutting so many things that either turned out to be really important for the plot (cough - Horcruxes - cough), or that I really enjoyed like the Death Day party - I really wanted to see that on film.

 

My favourite books are POA, GF, the last part of Half-Blood Prince and all of Deathly Hallows. I love pretty much everything after the trip to the lake to get the Horcrux, even the much maligned train station bit at the end of DH. The only part I really can't stand is the bit at end of HPB when Harry does that stupid and cliched "You can't be my girlfriend anymore because I'm a big hero and you'd be in danger" speech to Ginny. Ginny's been his girlfriend for all of five minutes and she has five wizard brothers. I think she can take care of herself in most situations.